Mar. 10, 2006
Went to the La Brea Tar pits. Thought Zachary would like that. Ten minutes in he said he didn't want to see any more skeletons. That's kinda the whole Tar Pit thing, so we left.
Ran in to another SF ex-pat out front. June Lomena. She's a bright, talented actor and writer. Always liked her, even when we argued for three straight hours about standing in the basement of the ACT about whether "Bullworth" was great, or racist crap.
Tonight the audience was all students from USC. It went well, but felt a "Is it okay to laugh now? Are we going to be tested on this?" vibe. We had a disscusion afterwards, which is my bread and butter. Put me on a stage, ask me some questions, and I may never shut up. Okay, to be fair, I wouldn't shut up if I were alone in a cardboard box in a tree on Mt. Fuji, but that's beside the point. Got some good questions, but there were a few students who asked the "Is this show really going to make a difference?" question. "Do you really think theatre can change anything? Aren't you just preaching to the converted? I mean, we're all liberals here..." Man, I hope that kid flunks. Smug inactivity masqarading as detached objectivity. Bleech. Velina asked "What do you suggest? Doing nothing? What's your alternative?" I would have added a Mr. Smarty Pants, but thats me. I'm a writer. And Tim said there's a difference between thinking something and acting on it. He asked everyone who protested the war to raise their hand - maybe fifteen. "See? Saying we're all liberals isn't enough - we need to be active." I can't remember what I said that evening- it was either brilliant and incisive in a way that make people re-evaluate their basic paradigms, or I made an ass of myself. One of the two - those are my options.